Wednesday, December 26, 2012

1848 became the
Year of Revolution as nation after nation rose up, questioning their
feudal leaders and calling for great populist reforms. The end of
the first era of the Industrial Revolution had created a huge body in
the Working Class. New ideas such as Nationalism and Socialism
expanded, filling the population with demands from their traditional
rulers. Revolution began in France, where it toppled King Louis
Philippe, and spread throughout Europe as well as Latin America, but
nowhere had as dramatic of a change as in Germany.

The German peoples
had been largely disunited for as long as history recorded. Romans
pitted tribes against one another to maintain vague control, but the
people's strength was proven as Goths and Visigoths overran Rome.
Otto I carved out the Holy Roman Empire, a confederation that
included the German-speaking people as well as other groups. During
his conquests of Europe, Napoleon dissolved the antiquated HRE and
installed a new system with the Confederation of the Rhine that laid
the groundwork for a true German nation. After Napoleon's defeat,
the Congress of Vienna created a looser Federal Confederation,
presided over by the Austrian emperor. It held a Federal Assembly in
Frankfurt, which met weekly and was used to block attempts at
liberalizing.

In 1848, Germans
charged by nationalism cried for unity. Taxes and censorship spurred
the people forward, and cities began to see demonstrations. Nobles,
fearful that they might lose everything as Louis Philippe had,
quickly bowed to liberal demands, such as freedom of the press,
elections, and the right of arms for the people. Most anticipated
the liberalism to be temporary and simply wished to ride out the
storm.

One of the largest
uprisings took place in Berlin, the capital of Prussia, Germany's
most powerful nation. The army had initially been used in an attempt
to scare the people from the streets. However, the people continued
to return to protest, even facing oncoming fire from the army that
killed hundreds. Rather than fleeing, the people became more
aggressive, fighting back and establishing barricades. King
Frederick Wilhelm IV was shocked that his people acted out and
immediately agreed to all of their demands, calling for a new
National Assembly to be elected through universal male suffrage.

Among
those elected was Professor Jacob Grimm. He and his brother,
Wilhelm, had become famous after compiling their collection of German
folktales, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (“Children's
and Household Tales”). The two became professors at the University
of Göttingen in 1830 but were forced to leave when they refused to
give loyalty oaths to King Ernest Augustus after he had eliminated
Hanover's constitution in 1837. Their fame preceded them, however,
and the brothers were invited by Frederick Wilhelm to professorships
at the University of Berlin. They were also awarded scholarships
from the Academy of Science to continue their studies, Wilhelm in
mythology and Jacob in philology, together working to create the
first German dictionary.

As Jacob left for
the Assembly, Wilhelm sent along with him a special annotated edition
of their fairy tales. Each story was given a description of its
relation to the important work of unifying Germany. Jacob
appreciated the gift, and its significance showed how cohesive and
effective story is to the human spirit. As he came into the
Assembly, Jacob made speeches referencing the stories, often reading
them in entirety and showing their perspective on the situation. He
made himself into a sort of “whip” for the Assembly, refusing to
allow factional ideals to halt any progress.

Jacob's main point
to force unification was the Schleswig War. On the southern end of
Jutland, a great many Germans lived under the rule of the Danish
king. In March of 1848, like the rest of Europe, the Germans began
demonstrations to achieve a German government. The Danish king sent
7,000 troops to quell the uprising, and the Prussians reacted by
sending troops of their own. Jacob did not rest at having Prussia
take up so much responsibility alone and drafted a bill calling for
soldiers from every corner of Germany. The Assembly had no clear
legal authority to do so, but the positive response from the people
forced the nobility to comply. A navy followed on June 14, which
would end Danish blockades of German harbors. By the end of June, a
massive German force fully garrisoned Schleswig. International
pressure called for an end to the war, which was signed at the Treaty
of Berlin with the National Assembly approving the annexation of
Schleswig into a unified German state with Frederick Wilhelm as
Kaiser.

The
Assembly's next action was to appease the “Großdeutsche”
(Greater German faction), which wished to include Austria. At times,
they refused to cooperate with “Kleindeutsche”
(Lesser Germany), but Jacob Grimm was able to convince them to be
patient and work in steps, as in “The Tailor in Heaven,” who is
cast out of paradise because he is not yet ready. In Austria,
similar protests had caused the Emperor Ferdinand to abdicate, giving
the throne to his nephew Franz Joseph, who immediately proclaimed
Austria was indivisible. Jacob contributed to continuing the German
revolution there until the rest of Europe became distracted by the
Crimean War. In the Austro-German War, the Empire shattered into
numerous ethnic states, destabilizing the Balkans but establishing
Germany as the great new Central European power.

Through
the nineteenth century, Germany would join the new balance of power
in Europe and participate in colonial wars in Africa and the Pacific.
In the twentieth century, governments worked to suppress uprisings
at home and overseas in the next great political movement: socialism.

--

In reality, the German National
Assembly failed to follow through on the revolution. Grimm, despite
his fervent nationalism, did not make much of a show at the Assembly,
which disintegrated into factional infighting. After the failure of
the First Schleswig War and Frederick Wilhelm refusing the crown
(later saying he did not want to receive it “from the gutter”),
the movement had clearly fallen out of favor. Germany would not be
unified until military successes in the Austro-Prussian War and
Franco-Prussian War two decades later.

Friday, December 21, 2012

After having ruled for 19 years, Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus Augustusdied while campaigning against the
Germans.Marcus Aurelius had completed a
stellar career, succeeding at nearly everything he attempted since his
induction into the equestrian order at age six.The Emperor Hadrian seemed impressed by Aurelius’ abilities and groomed
him to rule: waiving requirements for entry into the priesthood and recommending
that the Senate make exemption for him for the post of quaestor even
though he was not 24.He was first made
consul at the age of 18, and regained the position many times afterward.Upon the death of Emperor Antonius Pius in
161, Marcus Aurelius became co-ruler alongside his adopted brother Lucius Verus.

The two emperors were an odd couple.Marcus focused on the necessities of
administration and carried more authority despite their political
equality.Lucius, on the other hand,
enjoyed the games and chariot racing.Both, however, carried an informality that endeared them to the
people.They handled firsthand crises in
Rome such as the flooding of the Tiber, and Lucius was dispatched to the east
to battle the Parthians, who had begun an invasion.Lucius was at first accused of luxury and
gambling, but he proved an able commander, and the Parthians were defeated by
167.Plague flowed through the empire
after, wiping out thousands.Lucius died
in 169, possibly as a casualty of the plague.

From 169 to 177, Marcus ruled alone.He spent his years away from Rome,
campaigning against Germanic incursions across the imperial border.At age 52, he thought of the coming
generation and elevated his surviving son Commodus, only sixteen years old, to
co-ruler.Commodus had been born “in the
purple” months after Marcus became emperor, never knowing a life outside of
near-absolute authority.Commodus would
be the first non-adopted son to succeed his father as emperor in generations. From the days of Vespasian, no male heirs had
been born, creating a system of adoption.It arguably became a system of meritocracy, but Marcus felt that
Commodus, despite his youth, would make an able ruler.Still on campaign in 180, Marcus died in
Vindobona (modern day Vienna) on the Danube.

While he carried out his civic duties well, Marcus
Aurelius considered himself a philosopher at heart.He had been very close with his teachers, especially
Marcus Cornelius Fronto.Fronto, a
Numidian-Lybian, had become famous in Rome for his oratory, believed to be next
to that of the great Cicero, which spurred Antonius Pius to hire him as the
tutor for Marcus and Lucius.Poor health
troubled Fronto most of his adult life, ending chances at a career in politics,
but instead giving him more time to write.Lucius did not appreciate the education on the level that Marcus did, who
even imitated Fronto and carried out single-sided conversations with himself
about the necessity of discipline.Fronto often played devil’s advocate and tried to steer Marcus away from
philosophy with the old saying, “Better never to have touched the
teaching of philosophy...than to have tasted it superficially, with the edge of
the lips.”Another teacher, Quintus
Junius Rusticus, would introduce Marcus Aurelius to Stoicism, in which he found
his true calling.

In his last years of campaigning, Aurelius wrote
his Meditations.While Fronto had taught him to speak, he
thanked Rusticus for teaching him to think clearly.He took upon himself to be the
philosopher-king, fulfilling his requirements of office while still having time
to write reflections on philosophy, life, and the world.Like many Stoics, he focused on discipline
and self direction, writing “If
thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs thee, but
thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment
now” (VIII. 47) and “Do not act
as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While
thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good” (IV. 17).

None
of Aurelius’ reflections seemed to settle on his son Commodus, who acted a
great deal like Lucius.They made an
effective pair as rulers, however, with Aurelius’ administrative mind while
Commodus, like Lucius, held a sense of public mood.This thought settled on Aurelius, who
summoned Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus,
one of his best generals and the second husband of Lucius’ widow, Lucilla.He had apparently offered Caesarship to
Pompeianus to continue the tradition of co-rule, but Pompeianus had
declined.Now Aurelius pleaded with
Pompeianus to take the position should anything ever happen to Aurelius.After a great deal of convincing and a Stoic
discussion of duty, Pompeianus accepted the order and the will was changed just
before Aurelius’ death.

Returning to Rome, Commodus seemed upset by the invasion
of his rule, but Pompeianus maintained a tight grip on the young emperor.Though they bickered, the rule proved for the
good: Pompeianus handling administration while Commodus won the support of the
people with games and victories in the field.Pompeianus died in 195, giving rule over to Publius Helvius
Pertinax, who in turn passed
his title to the great general Septimius Severus. A new tradition of separation of powers
continued for centuries until 406, when pressure from Hun invaders tempted
German allies to revolt and flee rather than serving as the buffer Rome
intended them to be.The stable empire
persuaded the Germans to stay and even push back against the Huns.

Four hundred years later, another wave of
invasion by Maygars and Vikings proved too much for Rome, which toppled as was
carved into Viking kingdoms at sea an a Maygar empire in eastern Europe.With vast wealth behind them, the Vikings
continued to explore and plunder, reaching as far as southern African, Native
American, and Mayan lands.

--

In reality, Commodus succeeded his father as sole
emperor.In his short reign, he proved
at times wildly popular by devaluing the currency as using the extra money for
spectacles and games for the people as well as paying exorbitant salaries to
the Praetorian Guard.Commodus seemed to
have little interest in administration, instead handling public relations while
the government weakened.He descended
into megalomania and was assassinated in 192, leading to civil war in the Year
of the Five Emperors.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

As imperialism
spread through the Pacific in the nineteenth century, three Western
powers settled on the Samoan Islands. Although it was first sighted
by the Dutch, the British, Germans, and Americans competed among the
local tribes for control of the strategic island chain. Germans
established numerous plantations while Britain created a consulship
and Americans began trading extensively from posts around Pago Pago
harbor. All three nations claimed the entirety of the island group
and sold weapons to the locals, sparking a civil war in 1886.

As the
war continued among the tribes, the diplomats of Germany, Britain,
and America met in attempt to sort out the issue in Washington in
1887. They were unable to come to any agreement, however, and left
with no progress made. Instead, more warships sailed for Samoa. In
1889, German foreign minister Count Herbert von Bismarck
called for a meeting in Berlin that
April for a new try to calm international tensions.

In March, however,
a literal storm was brewing. A tropical cyclone of massive
proportions rolled toward Apia, and natives warned the fleets
anchored in its harbor with tales of a storm that had struck three
years before. The captains could clearly see the signs of storms and
the telltale plummet in barometric pressure. Sailing out into open
sea would give the ships a chance of bracing themselves through the
storm. However, each nation looked at each other to move first, and
a game of chicken began.

A
sudden south-westerly wind came up, pushing the cyclone farther to
the north and giving the ships a chance to escape. The large British
HMS Calliope managed
to push its way to safety, but the smaller Germans and Americans were
slower to follow. As they came to the entrance to the harbor on the
north side, their engines bolstered by the wind, the two fleets
became tangled up. Tempers rose to match the fury of the storm, and
ships were fired upon to sabotage engines. Disabled ships were
pushed back by the storm tide and smashed against the reef to the
south. Hundreds ended up dead on both sides, and each blamed the
other. The scuffle became a full battle, and the Americans became
overwhelmed by the Germans who were able to call up reinforcements
from their plantations.

Americans became
infuriated. While former President Grover Cleveland had been
anti-imperialist, Benjamin Harrison's term had begun eleven days
before, and he took this as his first great act. After leading
Congress to declare war, Harrison called the American Navy to action,
assembling a fleet in San Francisco to retake Samoa once and for all.

Meanwhile, across
the Atlantic, thirty-year-old Kaiser Wilhelm II had been on the
throne less than a year. He had already begun to chafe with his
ministers, particularly Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck
suggested patience and to continue the planned meeting, but Wilhelm
saw this war as a chance to prove German military prowess and
strength in colonizing. He called for the resignation of both
Bismarcks and assembled his own military advisers.

Both nations
hurried to modernize their fleets, stalling the expansion of the war
for months. Harrison's fleet succeeded in chasing off the Germans in
Samoa, but the Kaiser was ready to dispatch a new wave of his own,
and the Kaiserliche Marine was twice the size of the US Navy.
Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson had moved to Samoa on an
extended tour of the Pacific only months before and wrote a detailed
account of the battles at sea as well as the chaos among native
factions. Newspapers picked up the violent tales and contributed to
the failing popularity of the war. Nearly one-third of American
farmers had German backgrounds, and anti-German sentiment spread the
violence to the United States as well. German immigration had
halted, as had a good deal of business in trade. Harrison's “first
great act” turned into a political nightmare from which he could
not back down.

Finally, in 1892,
Grover Cleveland was swept back into the White House, vowing to end
the war. Britain hosted peace talks, saving face for both nations.
While the war ended, German-American relations did not heal rapidly.
Decades' worth of immigrants bent on coming to America were refused,
instead heading to Germany's many colonies in Africa and the Pacific,
where Samoa had been split into east-west spheres of influence.
Wilhelm claimed victory in the war and successfully pursued his
ideals of colonies and navy, which made a stunning show at the Fleet
Review in his grandmother Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

The United States,
meanwhile, struggled in an economic depression. The nation yearned
for hope, and they found it in McKinley's renewed imperialism. The
Spanish-American War reaffirmed America's reputation and brought
Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and Cuba into the fold. When the
World War broke out in Europe, however, war-weariness from Americans
already facing quagmire in Cuba and the Philippines refused to
participate. It finally ended in 1919 as a general draw, and Wilhelm
II seemed to have his fill of war, instead focusing on
empire-building in Germany's many colonies.

--

In reality, the Apia cyclone hit the
island directly, and the German and American ships had no hope of
escaping. Over 200 sailors perished as ships were tossed onto the
shore, slammed against one another, and torn apart by wind and waves.
The disaster eased the tension, which later returned and was finally
solved in 1899 with the Tripartite Convention dividing the islands.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The rise of Julius Caesar had been meteoric.He was born to a comfortable, but hardly
powerful, patrician family in 100 BC and spent much of his youth away from Rome
as the dictator Sulla committed his purges.Young Caesar surrendered his title in the priesthood and instead joined
the army to further his career in politics.In potentially corrupt elections, Caesar began to win titles such as
quaestor, Pontifex Maximus, and governor of Spain.His victories over barbarians there earned
him a triumph, which catapulted his fame and earned him spots in the circles of
General Pompey the Great and Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome.Caesar managed to bring the two, who had long
been opponents, into an informal political alliance known as the
Triumvirate.He was made consul for a
year and then dispatched to Gaul where his conquests would make him legendary.

Caesar returned to Rome in 49 BC on order of the
Senate.Rather than disband his army,
Caesar brought with him his most loyal legion, crossing the Rubicon, which was
an illegal movement of troops.Civil war
erupted as the Senate fled and built up forces to defeat the wildly popular
Caesar on the field of battle.Caesar,
meanwhile, established himself as dictator and made Mark Antony his
second-in-command.Antony came from a
famous and powerful family and had served on Caesar’s staff in Gaul.He proved an effective administrator of Italy
while Caesar traveled abroad, destroying the Senate’s armies and conquering
Egypt.At the celebration of Lupercalia
in 44 BC, Antony won a footrace and offered his diadem to Caesar, who refused
it.The political show excited the
people, who were overwhelmed by Caesar’s humility, but the thinly veiled hubris
also infuriated Caesar’s enemies.They
determined to kill him.

This group of senators dubbed themselves the “Liberators”
who would free Rome of Caesar, the would-be tyrant.Conspirators Brutus, Cassius, and Casca met
the night before their planned assassination on the Ides of March to discuss
the political fallout.Other
conspirators suggested wiping out Caesar’s whole faction, especially the fiery
Mark Antony.Brutus and his cohorts,
however, determined that only Caesar should die, which would make clear their just
action as protection of the Republic.Casca,
nervous about the ordeal, let slip to Antony that Caesar would meet his end the
next day at the games at Pompey’s theater.Antony immediately hurried to warn Caesar, who accepted his company but
refused to appear fearful.Antony
suggested carrying weapons and bringing bodyguards, but Caesar again refused.On the way to the games, the Liberators
ambushed Caesar and stabbed him repeatedly.Antony attempted to defend him and in fact killed Casca’s brother
Publius, but the Liberators struck him down as well, practically in
self-defense against the raging onslaught of the young veteran soldier.

Chaos came over Rome, and the bodies of Antony and
Caesar lay in the Forum for hours before being collected.Days later when Caesar’s will was read, the senators
were surprised to learn that Caesar had named his eighteen-year-old grandnephew
Octavian as his heir.If it had been
Antony, Caesar’s legacy would have been wiped out.Instead, Caesar’s power continued through the
new, ambitious boy.Unlike Antony, who
seemed the embodiment of Mars, Octavian had little military experience but
great cunning and potential.The
senators determined that the best way to be rid of him was to proceed with
Caesar’s plans of a campaign against Parthia to retrieve aquilae standards lost in 53 BC.

Some were fearful that a stunning victory in
Parthia would make Octavian even more famous than his predecessor, but the war
turned into a stalemate.The Romans made
initial gains, but Parthian counterattack pushed them back in 40 BC.Octavian and generals such as Ventidius
managed to take back their losses, but nearly a decade of fighting put them
back where they had begun.While
Octavian was away, the Senate under Cicero allowed Octavian’s titles to expire,
reducing his political might.When the
war finally ended in 20 BC, Octavian returned to Rome with the lost legions’ standards,
but his triumph did not last long.Octavian served as a reformer in the Senate until his death in AD 14
with a huge expansion of public works projects but would only be known to Roman
history enthusiasts.

The Roman Republic continued until 70, when
generals fresh from fighting in the First Roman-Jewish War returned and settled
unrest in Gaul by establishing a strong central imperator.Military control
continued as more and more rebellions occurred in Caledonia, Germania, and
Dacia, as well as further issues with the Jews and Parthians in the East.Eventually Rome’s resources became stretched
too thinly, and it broke apart into a series of kingdoms, smaller empires, and
vacuums of power invaders quickly seized.

--

In reality, Mark Antony was too late to defend of
Caesar.He fled from the Forum and slipped
out of Rome until he was certain the assassins did not mean to eliminate him as
well.Returning to Rome, he gave an
explosive eulogy at Caesar’s funeral and exposed the assassins’ crime.The senators fled the mob, and a new wave of
civil war came upon Rome.Mark Antony
joined with Octavian to become victorious, though they soon had their own civil
war.Octavian prevailed at the Battle of
Actium and became the sole ruler of an imperial Rome that would last for
centuries.

After years of fighting, the War of Independence
for the United States was coming to a close.The Battle of Yorktown in 1781 saw the last major British expeditionary
force surrender, leaving only strong garrisons in New York, Charleston, and
Savannah.Smaller-scale fights continued
in some areas, but the war had become a costly stalemate with American victory
in sight, and the Peace Party in Parliament wanted to end it before more
colonies fell to the Americans’ allies overseas.The bulk of the American Army settled in
Newburgh, New York, under the command of George Washington, where they held in
check the British forces in New York City.

Just weeks away from a formal ceasefire in 1783,
the American officers began to fidget with unrest.During the Revolution, many sacrifices had
been made, especially by soldiers who often accepted postponement of their
pay.Congress had no legal means to
raise taxes, meaning that it operated on voluntary contributions from the
states.As the states rarely offered to
contribute, Congress could not pay the soldiers their due and instead made
promises.With the war waning and the
promises of pay seeming thinner every day, the disgruntled officers began to
look for ways to gain what they felt was rightfully theirs.

An
anonymous letter to the general army was written and distributed by Major John
Armstrong, aide-de-camp to General Horatio Gates, the highest commander behind
Commander-in-Chief George Washington.The letter voiced the opinions of the officers, who felt that their
service during the war had been largely unappreciated and that hopes of “future
fortune may be… desperate” when the threat of the British was gone.They felt they had reached “points beyond
which neither can be stretched, without sinking into cowardice, or plunging
into credulity” in “a country that tramples upon your rights, disdains your
cries, and insults your distresses.”The
letter ended with a call for petitions to Congress to pay out what it had promised
and a meeting of officers to discuss action on March 11, which might have very
well been following up on the rumor among enlisted men to march on Congress
itself.

Congress, meanwhile, was divided between those who
were wary of centralized government and those who wanted a stronger, clearer
rule in America, such as Gouverneur Morris and
Washington’s former aide-de-camp, Alexander Hamilton.A commission from General Henry Knox lobbying
for pay for soldiers and officers had already been largely ignored.Hamilton wrote to Washington hoping for
leverage in his push for a more centralized government, but Washington replied
that he trusted in republicanism and would never use the military to threaten
civilian Congress.Washington himself
sent a general order cancelling the March 11 meeting and calling his own on
March 15 after tempers had cooled.

Armstrong and his fellow officers were worried that
Washington would hinder their efforts to stir the men to action and even
considered overthrowing his command and making Horatio Gates the
Commander-in-Chief.As a direct coup
would have failed due to Washington’s overwhelming political popularity, they decided
to take action using a rank Gates already held higher than Washington:
president of the Board of War.Created
in 1776 and expanded in 1777, the Board handled Army ordinance in a civilian
manner, and Gates served there until the end of his career despite it being a
severe conflict of interest.

The evening before Washington’s meeting, Armstrong
managed to persuade Gates to invite (rather than militarily order) officers to
a civilian meeting outside of camp, twenty miles away in Poughkeepsie, NY,
where the New York State Assembly was meeting.Many of the supporters came to the meeting, which became an Army
demonstration and stirred support in the Assembly to dispatch funds earmarked
for their pay.Washington held his
meeting and gave an impassioned reading of a letter from Congress explaining
its lack of funds, but actions spoke more loudly than words. Gates followed Washington’s address with an
appeal for more lobbying, and General Knox agreed.

Nonviolent demonstrations (which many felt were
thinly veiled threats) began occurring wherever the Army was stationed.Orders for furlough were extended, which
saved on pay but gave soldiers time to organize more protests.From Massachusetts to North Carolina,
legislators were harangued for pay.That
June, a mob of soldiers from Lancaster, PA, marched on Congress itself, blocking
the door and refusing to allow the congressmen to leave the building until
Alexander Hamilton (himself a former soldier awaiting his pension) persuaded
them that they would meet again the next day.Using the rabble to his favor, Hamilton managed to push through a bill,
to be ratified for the states, for taxation on luxury imports to repay the
military.Many of the states balked at
the idea of federal taxation, but the pressure of the soldiers suppressed any
counterargument. The tax came into effect and easily paid the $800,000 owed to
soldiers as well as supplying a national Revenue Cutter Service to ensure the
safety of American waters and payment.

The power of the veterans was clear, and Hamilton
began correspondence with Armstrong and Gates, the latter of whom became
president of the Society of the Cincinnati, a brotherhood of officers founded
to preserve the Revolution’s ideals.When Shays’ Rebellion began in 1786 amid a post-war recession due to a
credit crisis, Hamilton used the Society to show the power of his army, which
marched under the still-popular Horatio Gates at request of Massachusetts
Governor James Bowdoin.This proved that
the Articles of Confederation could work, thanks to Hamilton’s
modifications.Hamilton gained greater
political clout, founding the National Bank and creating a sitting executive
branch.

As also France itself became a republic baptized in
blood, relations fell apart between the nations.After a bribery scandal, Hamilton pushed
through the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 and 1799.Jeffersonians reacted with the Kentucky and
Virginia Resolutions, which were widely unpopular and became grounds for
treason.Hamilton installed federal
courts and rigged them to his favor, eliminating many of his enemies.The US gradually became a militarized state
as Hamilton prepared to invade Florida and Louisiana.Taxes increased to fund the army, spurring
unrest that Hamilton attempted to cure by establishing dictatorial powers for
himself.In 1807, Hamilton declared war
on France and Spain as they attacked Portugal, and the United States itself
fell into civil war as Southern states rebelled.Eventually Hamilton’s rule would be
overthrown by a popular colonel, Andrew Jackson, who himself would establish a
dictatorship that would lead to civil war and dissolution of the United States.

--

In reality, Gates planned to make his case at the
meeting on March 15, which George Washington interrupted and pulled out his
glasses to read, stating, “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my
spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of
my country.”Many officers were reduced
to tears, and Washington’s moderation proved a solid foundation for the new
republic.